Page 39 of Doctor Daddy Dilemma

“Nonsense, Charlie. We’re basically a family here.” He stepped into the room and closed the door quietly then reached for a tissue and handed it to me. “What can I do? What’s wrong?”

I bit my lip. I didn’t want to say anything, but it was obvious I had no choice but to track Lex down and deal with this. I was doing better financially having taken this job, but supporting two households now that my parents were both retired and needing help made it tight. I had no extra money to hire a PI, so it meant I would have to fly to Florida and go where I knew he’d be. All of that meant I’d need paid time off work because I had very little in savings and this wasn’t exactly “rainy day fund” material.

“I…uh… You probably saw the man who came here to speak with me.” I blinked back a few more tears and met his gaze and he nodded.

“I noticed. I believe Albert let him in. I wondered what was going on.”

I distinctly remembered seeing an angry glare on Mr. Lewis’s face when I ran into Lex and the cameraman’s lens was focused on me. It made sense now. Albert probably let him in so he could get a bit of juicy interaction on camera.

“My God,” I sighed, covering my face. “I think he’s going to try to sell that footage to the tabloids or something.” It wasn’t the first time. I remembered when I first got the job and a few months later I was at a doctor’s appointment, and when I came out Albert was there with a camera hoping to get pictures of me. Mr. Lewis had told him off back then for selling pics to the paparazzi for extra cash. He was at it again.

“I’ll deal with him. Now tell me what’s wrong. I can’t help if I don’t know.” He pulled the chair from my vanity across the room and sat down next to me, handing me another tissue which I used to clean my face.

“So that was Dr. Alexander Hartman, Sebastian’s father. We were together at one point and well…” I paused. My dirt didn’t need to be shared everywhere, and though I trusted Mr. Lewis, I was still ashamed. “Let’s just say it didn’t end well, and when he saw me on TV he wanted to see me so he came here.”

“And by the looks of it, it didn’t go well today either?” He leaned in and offered a hand for my soiled tissues. I placed them on his palm gratefully and he tossed them into the trash bin behind his seat.

“Not at all… And I really need to find out if he’s okay and well, we need to talk about some important things regarding Sebastian.” I’d taken so much time off work lately for being sick I hated asking for more time, but I knew my boss. He was a huge family man, having four children and three grandchildren of his own.

“Say no more. You take as long as you need to.” He held both hands up palms facing me and smiled. “Your job is secure here, Charlie. Your public loves you, and this place is really your extended family. We know you’re going to be back, and you keep drawing those ratings in so I have no problem supporting you. Besides, if you aren’t whole, your family isn’t whole. And if your family isn’t whole, how can you perform at your best here?” He stood and rubbed the top of Bash’s head softly and winked at me. “And if you need anything in the meantime, anything at all, you call me.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Thank you, Mr. Lewis. I appreciate that so much. I won’t be any longer than I absolutely have to be.”

He left me to my thoughts and already my mind was planning the trip. I didn’t even worry about packing up my things from the dressing room. I didn’t even change into my street clothes. I took my purse and phone, the diaper bag and my keys, and carried Sebastian down and buckled him in the car. We got home a little later than normal and he continued sleeping the whole way, so I laid him in bed and went straight to my room to pack.

As I threw things into a suitcase, I got my phone and called Amy, putting her on speakerphone as I sorted through my closet. I’d still have to get Bash’s things, but I didn’t want to make a bunch of noise in his room while he napped. If I could get a flight out today, I would. If not, I’d have to wait until tomorrow, but I didn’t want to wait long. I didn’t assume Lex would be sticking around California very long, as mad as he was.

“Hey, Charlie. What’s up?” Amy didn’t sound as concerned as she had last week when I was sick, but she did sound confused. I usually didn’t call her multiple times a week.

“Babe, I need your help.” I was a little out of breath from bopping around my room finding my clothes.

“Sure, anything. What gives?” I heard the distinct crackle of a food container and then crunching and I knew she was eating chips.

“I need to stay with you for a few days, and I need help with Sebastian.”

Amy’s crunching stopped for a second and then continued before she blurted out, “What? You’re coming to Florida?” It almost sounded like she choked on her bite but not in a good way. I hadn’t really been back to visit her. She’d been the one traveling to see me this whole time for a myriad of reasons but mostly because I was so hurt by things in my past, I couldn’t bring myself to return. She had to have assumed something had happened.

“Well, I got a surprise visitor at the studio today. And now I have a lot of explaining to do, if you know what I mean.” I slowly sank onto the foot of my bed and felt shame creeping into my cheeks, warming them.

“Tell me everything, and don’t leave a detail out!”

I didn’t, not a single detail. Amy was my best friend, and I needed to unload. And finally I had an outlet and the courage to vent, so I did. By the time I was done venting and Amy agreed to let me stay with her for a while and babysit Bash for me while I dealt with Lex, I was emotional again, and Bash was awake.

This would be one of the toughest things I’d ever done in my life, harder than raising a baby on my own, but I had no choice. It was the right thing, and I knew it.

I just hoped Lex didn’t hate me entirely. I didn’t want a nasty custody battle. In fact, after remembering how much I loved him, I wanted him.

I just didn’t hold out hope that he still wanted me after this.

30

LEX

The drink stared back at me the way it had for two days. I was home from San Francisco with nothing on my schedule and no escape from the reminder of who I’d been for the past two years. And after the shock of seeing Charlie with a baby, my baby, I didn’t know how to function. I was supposed to go on that trip to stop this nasty habit, but I came home early and now all I could think about was drowning this new pain in the same familiar crutch.

I sat in my desk chair staring at the tiny plastic shot glass filled to the brim with the cheapest whiskey I could buy. I just picked up the first thing I could find at the convenience store on my way up to the office. I didn’t even know what it was or what it tasted like, but the urge to drink was so overpowering I broke down and bought it. Now I knew I was going to cave in.

There were still three days left in my supposed vacation time, but I called Ella and had her open up my schedule which got booked up instantly. I wasn’t in the mood for patients, especially new patients, but if I sat at home I was going to be wasted and that wouldn’t be productive or healthy. Likely that would be the slippery slope that had me drinking daily again. But this, one shot at work, wouldn’t be so bad, right?

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